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NFL punishes Saints

Team hit hard for its bounty program

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre (4) is hit by New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita (55) and Anthony Hargrove during the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship NFL football game in New Orleans, on Jan. 24, 2010. The Saints were flagged twice for roughing Favre.

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton was suspended without pay for the 2012 season.

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson looks on before the first half of an NFL football game between Saints and the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta.

New Orleans Saints assistant coach Joe Vitt walks the sideline during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in New Orleans.

New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams before a 2011 NFL preseason football game at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis watches from the sidelines before the start of the Saints-Dallas Cowboys NFL football game in New Orleans.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre holds his helmet after fumbling the ball, which was recovered by the New Orleans Saints during the second quarter of the NFC Championship NFL football game in New Orleans on Jan. 24, 2010.

Tom Benson's team was fined $500,000 and had two second-round draft picks taken away for this year's draft and the 2013 draft.

The NFL imposed some of the most severe penalties in pro football history Wednesday when Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended three New Orleans Saints coaches and the team’s general manager for operating and tolerating a bounty system that paid players for hits that injured opponents.

Head coach Sean Payton, assistant coach Joe Vitt, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and general manager Mickey Loomis were all punished by the league.

The NFL investigation of the Saints found that they had a bounty program, funded primarily by players, over the past three seasons. The league concluded that Williams administered the program and occasionally contributed money to it, and cited Payton and Loomis for failing to do more to halt the program.

The furor over the Saints’ bounties comes at a time when the league has focused on player safety by tightening its enforcement of rules that govern legal blows and, in particular, trying to reduce player concussions.

But that effort and the findings in the Saints bounty investigation, announced March 2, have run hard into what many players consider their onfield code, one that allows attempts to take stars and others off the field with crushing, but legal, blows.

Goodell made clear that paying players to injure opponents crossed the line.

“Let me be clear. There is no place in the NFL for deliberately seeking to injure another player, let alone offering a reward for doing so. . . . Programs of this kind have no place in our game and we are determined that bounties will no longer be a part of the NFL.”

The investigation of players most heavily involved in the scheme is continuing. Goodell has asked DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, for his recommendations on discipline of players, according to a person close to the situation.

The penalties are among the harshest in the sport’s history. Then-commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive lineman Alex Karras for the 1963 season for gambling.

“I am speechless,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees wrote on Twitter. “Sean Payton is a great man, coach, and mentor. The best there is. I need to hear an explanation for this punishment.”

Williams’ case will be reviewed after the 2012 season, the league announced.

“A combination of elements made this matter particularly unusual and egregious,” Goodell said in the written statement. “When there is targeting of players for injury and cash rewards over a three-year period, the involvement of the coaching staff, and three years of denials and willful disrespect of the rules, a strong and lasting message must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game.”

WILLIAMS' APOLOGY

Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said in a statement he does not argue with the terms of the suspension and says, “I accept full responsibility for my actions.”

He says he will cooperate with the NFL and its ongoing investigation, and said he’ll serve as an advocate for player safety and sportsmanship while trying to earn back the respect he has lost.

TEAM'S STATEMENT FROM WEB SITE

Today, Commissioner Goodell apprised us of the severe penalties facing our club, as proposed by the NFL.

We recognize our fans’ concerns and we regret the uncertainty this episode has created for them. We are humbled by the support our organization has received from our fans today in the wake of this announcement, and we ask them to continue to stand with us, as they have done in the past, when both our team and our city have overcome greater adversities.

To our fans, the NFL and the rest of our league, we offer our sincere apology and take full responsibility for these serious violations.

It has always been the goal of the New Orleans Saints to create a model franchise and to impact our league in a positive manner.

There is no place for bounties in our league and we reiterate our pledge that this will never happen again.